Replaceable porcelain tipped pontic tooth



Sept. 22, 1931. c. EA FRIARS 1,823,934

REPLACEABLE PORCELAIN TIPPED PONTIC TOOTH Filed April 18, 1927 gwuenkw Patented Sept. 22, 1931 cn-Aanivon E. r nmnsyor TACOMA, wASH-INGTQN BEIPLAGEABLE roncnrnnv :TIPED I roiv'rro 'roo'rn i uam filed ii riljls,

Thisinvention relates to artificial dentures and has as its primary object to provide a replaceable porcelain facing for bridge work v havinga porcelain tip. Replaceable facings have been devised for bridge work but in the constructionof such facings they are molded devoid of a'tip at the gingival end andat this end the ordinary facingl merely" abuts v a against the outer 'side'ofthe and a space 10' is left at the inner side of the pontic tooth in which food may collect with disastrousresults; Likewise facings have been ,made'w'i'th"; tips but they have not been capable of replacement and therefore if broken-it 'is neci5 essary to supply entire new bridge'work; It is therefore an important object of thepresent invention to provide areplaceablefa'cin'g embodying a tip at the gingival end thereof V and which tip will be molded and baked in tegral with the'facing and of glazed porcelainwhich is the most desirable material for the purpose as it is not antagonistic to the gum tissues and is unaffected by the" acids A 4 in'ga'stric juices. Therefore the presentine '2 vention contemplates a facingprese'nting the advantages of a facing havingagingivalgtip and likewise the advantagesof a replaceable facing and, sofa-r asI am,'aware,fno'facing has previously i been "designed possessing molded in im tation of the natural tooth 3 0 both of these features in co rnbinationl I There, in prior practice, 'facings have been made replaceable, it has been custom ary to reinforce the facing by providing a ireinforcement ofgold, constituting an*inte-' gral part of the bridge work, and extending over the incisalend of thefacing, such reinforcenient being necessary to prevent, not only, breaking of the facing butalso separation thereof from the bridge,'whichxis liable to occur in the niastication ofhard "food; Therefore the present invention has as a further object to provide a replaceable ,fa'c} ing so constructed and so'mountedas to en; ,a .tirely avoid the necessity of reinforcing its J nde d le vide a bridge work facing and backingthere for" constructed and adapted to'be so assembled that "theentire bridge may beinade up before the teeth,"which are to be replaced,

ance of the artificial denture.

Another obj ect' of the invention isfto lpro- 1927; seria noglse'zolQ I tip, thesaid tip may enter a short distance into the sock'et 'in' the gum from which the natural tooth was extracted thus permitting ,theigum'tissue to heal "about'the tip "and thereby greatly enhance the natural appearln'theaccompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a view in elevation ofa replaceable porcelain-facinghaving a gingival tip, and the=inountingfor thefacing';

V Fig;2 fisf'a rear elevation of the denture shown in Figure 1;

, Fig. "sa vertical sectionalview through the" facing and mounting illustrating the.

manner 'in' which the facingis' adapted to be assembled "with r and removed from the mountlng;

Figfl'l is a rearelevation of the facing Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the mounting In the drawings the artificial denture i's il lustrated as comprising a. facing l which in practice be" of glazed porcelain and molded' inimit'atioii of the natural tooth which it is toreplace, the" facing "having an inoisal end 2 and being provided, in the proc'- ess of molding, with an integral gingival tip 3. The outer-side of the facing is as stated which the facing isto replace: and the, inner side of'the facing is recessed to provide a flat face'4 which, the natural position of are eXtracted,iand, inasmuchas the facingof i the present invention embodles a gingivalthe denture in theimouth, will occupy a ver tical plane,'and a bottom -face 5 which is inclined downwardly and inwardly'at an obtuse angle to the plane of theiface 4. For a purpose to be presently explained, the facing 1' is formed in its inner face 4: with a vertically extending groove 5 havingparallel side walls 6 anda vertical inner wall 7 "occupying a plane parallel to the plane occupiedby the face {The upper and lower end walls of the groove,indicated respectively by the nu meralsj 8 and 9, are parallel .to each other but are inclineddownwardly and'inwardly respectively atac iteand obtuse angles to the plane of the inneri wall 7 and both of these walls 8 and; 9 occupyfplanes parallel to th'e plane of the bottom facet) of the recessr or socket'5. In practice,-the lockingjor' an-' 3O vided at its lower end with a downwardly and inwardly inclined extension 12 which is disposed at the same angle with respect to the plate as is the bottom wall 5 of the recess with respect to the wall or face 4,thereof.

Likewise the extension 12 of the plate ll'is of the same marginalcontour and dimensions as vthe bottom face or wall'5 of the recess in the facing. The groove 5.const'itutes.a socketin which is snugly received an anchoring tongue 13 which is integrally formed upon thelouter faceof the plate l1. Thistongue l3 isof athickness equalsubstantially to the width of the groove or socket 5 and has its rear edge parallel to the plane of the face-of the plate 11 upon which it is formed and its upper and lower end edges inclined to correspond to the angular disposition of the upper;

and lower end walls 8 and 9 of the said groove choring tongue 13 will be of dimensions substantially the sameas the dimensions of the groove or socket 5 and the tongue is located upon the outer face'of theplate 11 precisely in the manner that the socket is located inthe faceor wall 4' of the recess inthe facing so 7 that when the facingis assembled with the backing. 10 in the manner illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawings, the anchoring tongue 13 will fit snugly in the groove or socket 5 and the outer and under faces of the plate 11 and its extension 12 will abut fiat against the faces land 5 of the facing 1 as shown clearly in Figure 1 .ofthedrawings. It willbeevident at this'point that due to the corresponding inclination of the upper and lower end wallsof the socket'5 and the upper and lower endedges of the tongue 13 and likewise the extension 12of the plate 11, the facing may be applied to the backing with great facility and when onceapplied will snugly and precisely fit the backing; Of course any suitable'cement maybe employed for uniting the facing to the backing and it will be quite evident that the facing and backing .are so constructed that when theyare assembled the facing will be firmly and securelysupported.

It willlikewise be evident by reference to Figure l'that while the facing is replaceable,

I its gingivalend, being provided with .thetip.

3, is adapted to seat in the socket in the tissues of the gum left remaining by .the extraction of-the natural tooth, which the facing is to replace, and therefore, inasmuch as the gingival tip of the facing is of glazed porcelain, the gumtissueswi-ll heal about the said tip thus greatly'enhancing the natural appearance of the artificial denture. It will likewise be evident that due to the means provided for anchoringthe facing to the backing, the employment of any bracing or reinforcing means for coaction with the incisal end of the facing is entirely avoided.

Fromwthe .foregoing description of the invention it will be seen that I have provided a replaceable porcelain facing having a gingival tip,'so .that as aiconsequence the artificial denture embodying the invention possesses the advantages of'an artificial facing having a tip at its gingival end and the further advantage that it can be replaced in the event of breakage It will likewise beevidentthat due tothe peculiar formation of the anchoring means for the facing, the facing is prevented from displacement in an outward direction with respect to the backing and .can only be removed byan upward displacement at the time it is outwardly moved away from the backing. I I

It will be understood of coursethat the backing 10 is to be supported by the bridge work in accordance with established practicec V v I i It will-beobser-ved by reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings that the gingival tip 3 of the facing l is located bodily belowthe backing 10 and is of dimensions. such as V to substantially equal the dimensions of the gingival endof the natural tooth which the facing is to replace. It is to be understood, ofcourse, that various changes may be made, within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention. H m r r -Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim is: V V 1. An artificial tooth comprising a facing having an integral gingival tip and provided with aperpendicular face and a face inclined downwardly and inwardly from the perpendicular face and at an obtuse angle thereto and being provided in the perpendicular face with a relativelynarrow perpendicular groove constituting a socket and. having side walls parallel to each other through- .Out theirlength and downwardly and inwardly inclined upper and lower end walls, and a backing comprisinga portion for contact with the perpendicular face of the facing and another portion extending at an 0btuse angle thereto for engagement with the second mentioned. face, and a perpendicular anchoring tongue upon the first mentioned portion of the backing of uniform thickness throughout and of the same thickness as the backing and of dimensions to fit snugly Within said groove and having downward-ly and inwardly inclined upper and lower end edges, the angle of inclination of theupper and lower, end walls of. the groove, the upper and lower endedges of the anchoring tongue,

andthe inclination of the second mentioned face of the facing and the second mentioned i portion of the backing allbeing the same.

2. An artificial tooth comprising a facing having an integral, gingival tip and provided on the lingual side with a longitudinal face and a face inclined labio-occlusally tothe longitudinal face and being provided in the longitudinal face With a groove constituting a socket and having labio-occlusally inclined occlusal and gingival end Walls, and a backing having complementary faces, an anchoring tongue upon the longitudinal face of the backing and of dimensions to fit within said groove and having labio-occlusally inclined occlusa-l and gingival end edges, the said end Walls and edges, the second mentioned face of the facing and its complementary face of the backing all having the same inclination to the longitudinal face of the facing.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CLARENCE E. FRIARS. 

